Blueberries, the well-known 'super fruit,' could help fight Alzheimer's - Science Daily, 3/14/16 - "One study involved 47 adults aged 68 and older, who had mild cognitive impairment, a risk condition for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers gave them either freeze-dried blueberry powder, which is equivalent to a cup of berries, or a placebo powder once a day for 16 weeks ... The blueberry group demonstrated improved memory and improved access to words and concepts ... The team also conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which showed increased brain activity in those who ingested the blueberry powder" - See blueberry extract at Amazon.com.

 

Blueberries, citrus fruits, red wine associated with reduced erectile dysfunction - Science Daily, 1/13/16 - "Of all the different flavonoids, Anthocyanins (found in blueberries, cherries, blackberries, radishes and blackcurrant), flavanones and flavones (found in citrus fruits) were found to offer the greatest benefits in preventing the condition ... It is already known that increased exercise can improve erectile function, but this research shows that eating a flavonoid-rich diet is as good for erectile function as briskly walking for up to five hours a week" - See blueberry extract at Amazon.com.

 

Blueberry extract could help fight gum disease and reduce antibiotic use - Science Daily, 9/2/15 - "In the lab, the researchers tested extracts from the wild lowbush blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium Ait., against F. nucleatum. The polyphenol-rich extracts successfully inhibited the growth of F. nucleatum, as well as its ability to form biofilms. It also blocked a molecular pathway involved in inflammation, a key part of gum disease" - See blueberry extract at Amazon.com.

 

Blueberries may help reduce blood pressure and arterial stiffness - Science Daily, 1/8/15 - "Over an eight-week period, 48 postmenopausal women with pre- and stage-1 hypertension were randomly assigned to receive either 22 grams of freeze-dried blueberry powder -- the equivalent to one cup of fresh blueberries -- or 22 grams of a placebo powder ... At the end of the eight weeks, participants receiving the blueberry powder on average had a 7 mmHg (5.1 percent) decrease in systolic blood pressure, which is the top number in the blood pressure reading that measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats. They also saw a 5 mmHg (6.3 percent) reduction in diastolic blood pressure, or the bottom number measuring the pressure in the arteries between heartbeats ... Additionally, participants in the blueberry-treated group had an average reduction of 97 cm/second (6.5 percent) in arterial stiffness" - See blueberry extract at Amazon.com.

 

Dietary Polyphenol Supplementation Prevents Alterations of Spatial Navigation in Middle-Aged Mice - Front Behav Neurosci. 2016 Feb 9 - "In this study, spatial learning deficits of middle-aged mice were first highlighted and characterized according to their navigation patterns in the Morris water maze task. An eight-week polyphenol-enriched diet, containing a polyphenol-rich extract from grape and blueberry (PEGB; from the Neurophenols Consortium) with high contents of flavonoids, stilbenes and phenolic acids, was then successful in reversing these age-induced effects. The use of spatial strategies was indeed delayed with aging whereas a polyphenol supplementation could promote the occurrence of spatial strategies. These behavioral results were associated with neurobiological changes: while the expression of hippocampal calmodulin kinase II (CaMKII) mRNA levels was reduced in middle-aged animals, the polyphenol-enriched diet could rescue them. Besides, an increased expression of nerve growth neurotrophic factor (NGF) mRNA levels was also observed in supplemented adult and middle-aged mice. Thus these data suggest that supplementation with polyphenols could be an efficient nutritional way to prevent age-induced cognitive decline" - [Nutra USA] - See blueberry extract at Amazon.com and OPCs+95 at Amazon.com.

 

Anti-obesity effects of artificial planting blueberry (Vaccinium ashei) anthocyanin in high-fat diet-treated mice - Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2016 Feb 22:1-8 - "This study aimed to evaluate the anti-obesity effects of artificial planting blueberry (Vaccinium ashei) anthocyanin (BA) in high-fat diet-induced obese male C57BL/6 mice. BA at doses of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg was supplemented in the daily food of obese C57BL/6 mice during an 8-week experiment. Our findings indicate that consumption of BA at high doses reduced body weight by 19.4%, whereas both low and middle doses did not affect the body weight. Furthermore, BA supplementation at high dose could effectively decrease serum glucose, attenuate epididymal adipocytes, improve lipid profiles, and significantly down-regulate expression levels of TNFα, IL-6 PPARγ, and FAS genes" - See blueberry extract at Amazon.com.

 

The beneficial effects of berries on cognition, motor behaviour and neuronal function in ageing - Br J Nutr. 2015 Sep 22:1-8 - "Previously, it has been shown that strawberry (SB) or blueberry (BB) supplementations, when fed to rats from 19 to 21 months of age, reverse age-related decrements in motor and cognitive performance ... rats consuming the berry diets exhibited enhanced motor performance and improved cognition, specifically working memory. In addition, the rats supplemented with BB and SB diets showed increased hippocampal neurogenesis and expression of insulin-like growth factor 1, although the improvements in working memory performance could not solely be explained by these increases. The diverse polyphenolics in these berry fruits may have additional mechanisms of action that could account for their relative differences in efficacy" - [Nutra USA] - See blueberry extract at Amazon.com.

 

Blueberry intervention improves vascular reactivity and lowers blood pressure in high-fat-, high-cholesterol-fed rats - Br J Nutr. 2012 Oct 9:1-9 - "Rats were randomly assigned to follow a control chow diet, a chow diet supplemented with 2 % (w/w) BB, a high-fat diet (10 % lard; 0.5 % cholesterol) or the high fat plus BB for 10 weeks. Rats supplemented with BB showed significant reductions in systolic BP (SBP) of 11 and 14 %, at weeks 8 and 10, respectively, relative to rats fed the control chow diet (week 8 SBP: 107.5 (sem 4.7) v. 122.2 (sem 2.1) mmHg, P = 0.018; week 10 SBP: 115.0 (sem 3.1) v. 132.7 (sem 1.5) mmHg, P < 0.0001). Furthermore, SBP was reduced by 14 % in rats fed with the high fat plus 2 % BB diet at week 10, compared to those on the high-fat diet only (SBP: 118.2 (sem 3.6) v. 139.5 (sem 4.5) mmHg, P < 0.0001). Aortas harvested from BB-fed animals exhibited significantly reduced contractile responses (to l-phenylephrine) compared to those fed the control chow or high-fat diets. Furthermore, in rats fed with high fat supplemented with BB, aorta relaxation was significantly greater in response to acetylcholine compared to animals fed with the fat diet" - See blueberry extract at Amazon.com.